Mason Profitt OK I am really pushing the edge

Bob Doran · From: Ames, Iowa, USA

edge here in PSG, but do any of you remember Mason Profitt.
I think one of most unique bands ever in that they truly fused rock, country, and bluegrass into something that most everyone liked. Very underrated band.
I can't remember if they had any PSG in their music, but i am going to play some this weekend and maybe work one or two up.
(they hung out a lot at Aspen too- i remember one night, they played at a bar all night, and the lead singer was so out of his mind, he just sat there and stared at us all night never moving, singing, or playing. The rest of the band covered for him.
Ahhh... if you can remember anything from the 60's you weren't part of it...
Bob

Rex Thomas · From: Thompson's Station, TN

Goodness yes. They grew up in Indiana like me. I wasn't as close to the Talbot bros. as others were, but I remember the era you speak of well. I knew John better than I did Terry. And yeah, John had that rosewood push/pull & played it on "Hard Luck Woman" if memory serves correctly. I do remember when I worked & taught at Arthur's music in Indianapolis during that time, John & his dad would come into the store & although John has moved on to his ministry, at that time he was a KILLER 5 string banjo player. He could flat out do it.
Anyway, the Talbots were always nice to me when we met, & I have good memories of them.

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

I remember "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream"...

Bob Doran · From: Ames, Iowa, USA

Michael Dodge and what was it, Flying Arrow or Broken Arrow were great...
a buddy has copied essentially all their songs on to one CD. it is awesome. will play it and post some of the best songs.
Bob
Oh yes, my favorite- Two Hangmen hanging from a tree

Bob Doran · From: Ames, Iowa, USA

Wow i listened to the whole CD
What a trip
Better than i remembered!
What struck me most was the lead singer (John?) had an absolutely incredible voice.
The bass player was great.
And the steel was awesome. Don't know who played but he was great, sort of a melodic lead as the backup to singer. Reminded me of Gerry Garcia's style.
I don't know the titles to some of the steel songs so here are the opening words and the chorus as i remember.
1)V: we're all brotheres C: old home delta road
2)V: he sits down C: he loves them
3)Jeanie is a lady (not sure of name)
4)V: walking through the village C: good friend came to see her
5) old joe clark with dobro not PSG
6)Flying Arrow--Awesome song
7) Hard luck woman
8)Michael Dodge
9)Old Stewball
10)I was born on a river...
11)I hear the voice of change
12) we say you won't laugh again
Bob

Stephen Gambrell · From: Over there

Didn't they have the one, "I'm Just a Hobo With a Guitar, and a Little Bit of Money in the Bank"?
Mason Proffitt----This forum really has something for everybody!

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

I don't believe it!! Mason Profit!! I saw them LIVE at the Masonic Temple in Davenport, Ioway in '72 or '73!!! "As I rode into Tombstone on my horse, his name was Mack, I saw what I'll recall for you goin' on behind my back. Seems the folks were up in arms, a man now had to die, for believing things that didn't fit the laws they'd set aside. The mans name was "I'm a Freak", the best that I could tell. He was an executioner, a hangman like myself. It seemed that he'd seen loop holes, from working with his rope, He'd hung the wrong man many times, so now he turned to hope.(sorry, old timers disease just kicked in, can't remeber anymore)Chorus: And now we're twoooo hangmen, hangin' from a tree, that don't bother me, at all. (put on hippy clothes and repeat chorus 'til ya git sick uv'er) Some one finish the song. Remember, no cheating and looking up the words!!!!

Bob Doran · From: Ames, Iowa, USA

I snitched! Here they are:you have a great memory!
The lyrics, from the sleeve:

D A
As I rode in to Tombstone on my horse his name was Mac
C G
I saw what I'll relate to you goin' on behind my back
F# G
It seems the folks were up in arms, a man now had to die
A
For believin' things that didn't fit the laws they set aside

The man's name was "I'm a Freak", the best that I could see
He was the executioner, a hangman just like me
I guess that he'd seen loopholes from workin' with his rope
He'd hung the wrong man many times, so now he turned to hope

He talked to all the people from his scaffold in the square
He told them of the things he found, but they didn't seem to care
He said the laws were obsolete, a change they should demand
But the people only walked away, he couldn't understand

The marshall's name was "Uncle Sam", he said he'd right this wrong
He'd make the hangman shut his mouth if it took him all year long
He finally arrested Freak and then he sent for me
To hang a fellow hangman from a fellow hangman's tree

It didn't take them long to try him in their court of law
He was guilty then of thinkin', a crime much worse than all
They sentenced him to die, so his seed of thought can't spread
And infect the little children, that's what the law had said

So the hangin' day came round, and he walked up to the noose
I pulled the lever but before he fell, I cut him loose
They called it all conspiracy, and then I had to die
So to close our mouths and kill our minds, they hung us side by side

Rick McDuffie · From: Benson, North Carolina, USA

John is a Franciscan monk now, and still writing and playing music. http://www.johnmichaeltalbot.com/

Allen Peterson · From: Katy, Texas

I saw them in Salt Lake City in the early 70s. They opened for Spirit and were absolutely fantastic. I still have one of their LPs at home.

I can't remember the name of the song, but some of the lyrics still stick in my mind:

Hokey Joe Pony was a ramblin' man
Came to Louisiana with the hot kazoo band
........?........ really cut a rug
And when he got high he could double on the jug.

Chorus:
Hot Mama hear the jug band blow
Hokey really smokey when he feelin cokey nosey

Or:
Hot Mama hear the jug band blow
You can play funky without skunky junky

Can anyone fill in the blanks and some of the other verses?

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Bob, My wife says I've got a photographic memory, but it's usually out of film!!(GROANER)I was born and raised eastern Iowa. Raised a country boy.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

I used to see them when they came to San Francisco at the Fillmore West. Great band. I actually had an 8 track tape (remember those

) of theirs.

Bob Doran · From: Ames, Iowa, USA

Jim i spent first 5 years of my life in Iowa City, and 8 years in college.
So even though i have lived in Ames most of my life, i am a hopeless Hawkeye fan.
When we deliver babies here, i even save a few Hawkeye caps for those of my patients whose babies might get a rash from the standard ISU cap we keep.
A great regret of my life is that i didn't settle in Iowa City.
It has got to be about the best town in the country.
On a Saturday football game, you can cut the atmosphere with a knife, it is so electric.
And a great music town. I remember in the early seventies and late 60's, hearing this incredible "new" sound.It was bluegrass and nobody was doing it then.The thing i liked best though was that the bands i was hearing , sounded better than anything i have heard in bluegrass since. Maybe it was Bob Black. Don't know.
But the bluegrass then had more guts to it, and they avoided that high pitched, "lonesome" sound that to me really sounds like a hound dog with its foot stuck in a barbed wire fence.
BOb

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Hey Bob, Iowa City has a few pickers around!! Art Rosenbaum, Ron Hillis, and a few others. There are a couple pretty good bluegrass festivals around, too.

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